Nicko McBrain recently revealed that he suffered a stroke back in January. In the new issue of Metal Hammer, the Iron Maiden drum legend spoke to journalist Alexander Milas about the transient ischaemic attack (TIA, or ministroke).
“Well, it was very, very difficult,” says Nicko.“When it first happened I thought, ‘This is it, I’m not going to be able to play. I’ve got a tour coming up in three months’ time.’ I had a lot of time for reflection in the hospital. My wife was really my bastion of strength and encouragement and she was with me throughout. I did a lot of strength exercises, a lot of stretches with weird weights that they have and I got my stamina back.”
The drummer then comments on how supportive his Iron Maiden bandmates, especially bassist Steve Harris, were as he recovered.
“Through all this period of time I was in touch with Steve, obviously all the guys, and I’d have a bit of a chat with them on the phone and they were all very, very encouraging, and none more so than Steve. He said, ‘Look, the most important thing is that you get well and work on getting yourself together.’”
Read more, here.
Iron Maiden's The Future Past Tour, which includes songs from both Maiden’s most recent studio album Senjutsu as well as 1986’s seminal album Somewhere In Time, alongside other fan favorites, played to over 750,000 fans at more than 30 sold-out shows across Europe in the summer of 2023. The band also performed in Edmonton, Calgary and Vancouver alongside their highly praised appearance at California’s Power Trip Festival this October. Featuring one of the most spectacular stage productions of the band’s career, it has received rave reviews in every city and country that Iron Maiden visited.
Dates for The Future Past Tour 2024 are listed below.
October
4 - North Island Credit Union Amphitheatre - San Diego, CA
5 - Michelob ULTRA Arena - Las Vegas, NV
8 - Kia Forum - Los Angeles, CA
12 - Aftershock Festival - Sacramento, CA
14 - MODA Center - Portland, OR
16 - Tacoma Dome - Tacoma, WA
18 - Delta Center - Salt Lake City, UT
19 - Ball Arena - Denver, CO
22 - Xcel Energy Center - St Paul, MN
24 - Allstate Arena - Rosemont, IL
26 - Scotiabank Arena - Toronto, ON
27 - Videotron Centre - Quebec City, QC
30 - Centre Bell - Montreal, QC
November
1 - Wells Fargo Center - Philadelphia, PA
2 - Barclays Center - Brooklyn, NY
6 - DCU Center - Worcester, MA
8 - PPG Paints Arena - Pittsburgh, PA
9 - Prudential Center - Newark, NJ
12 - CFG Bank Arena - Baltimore, MD
13 - Spectrum Center - Charlotte, NC
16 - Dickies Arena - Fort Worth, TX
17 - Frost Bank Center (formerly AT&T Center) - San Antonio, TX
20 - Foro Sol - Mexico City, Mexico
24 - El Campin Stadium - Bogota, Columbia
Head to ironmaiden.com all ticketing and tour information.